Open Up My Eyes
by crzytilprvnothrwise
Summary: Eric thinks back to the last few moments when Christine departed. Surprise songfic.


_I had the notion that you'd make me change my ways  
>And the bad habits would be gone in a matter of days<em>

Erik couldn't believe how much hope he had had riding on that slip of a girl. The betraying little witch, she who had drove him to do things that he'd swore he'd never do again...terrify, torture, _murder_ his fellow humans. He laughed harshly around the hysterical sobs, and watched the boat and pair fade into the darkness.

_I had a feeling that you'd open up my eyes  
>To a whole new world that has since been disgiuse.<em>

He had to admit it, no matter how much he hated those who pitied him, no matter how much he claimed superiority in intelligence, he was as human as they were. Which, he supposed, was identifiable by the misery instead of rage that consumed him with every breath. The candles and falling debris cast a wavering light, and through tears and smoke he thought he saw the pull to shore before turning the bend that would bring them to cellar four. Just his imagination...

_But that day will most likely never come for me  
>And it's just my luck to end up getting stuck to everything you are<br>So tonight I'll sit and...pick apart your pictures  
>And overanalyze your words<em>

Viewing his 'domain', the once-phantom looked over...everything. The things he had collected from trash bins, the opera house, discreetly stolen from nearby markets...cast-offs, scroungings, every bit of it. None of it was _his_. None of it except his music box and his music...Oh, the music. Music is harmony, music is light, music is peace, music was Christine. Gently he sat and smiled forlornly into the unseeing eyes of lead monkey, trying to forget...

_'Cause the truth is that I've never fallen so...hard.  
>It's taken everything in me just to forget your sweater so far.<em>

Christine seemed to appear out of nowhere, while his were eyes still unfocused in half-meditation. She appeared to him like a vison of salvation, tears glittering on her eyelashes and pale face, lips trembling. For a moment his heart lept in joy, the angelic soprano framed by the fires of destruction, the destruction of the music they both loved...The destruction that had been caused by _him_. But she had the goodness to come back, to come back and comfort him in his guilt...

_And I can honestly say...  
>That I have never, ever felt this way<br>Your lips, your eyelashes your skin  
>These are the parts of your body that cause my comatose to begin<em>

Silently she handed him the glittering ring, the token of the love of two men, the two she believed were equally deserving of recieving the same from down he realized she would be happier this way... But that was very deep, maybe where sanity still reigned. But above, in the subconscience, there was only pain and grief.

_So don't go worryin' about me  
>It's not like I think about about this constantly<br>So maybe I do_

_But that shouldn't affect your life anymore  
>...I knew it the moment you walked into the door<em>

He saw the apology, the regret in her eyes as she turned away. Erik wondered if later he would blame her, but how could anyone blame a rational woman choosing safety over passion? The chanting of the hate-driven mob shook him out of his reverie, and he took up a precious candelabra piece, and attempted to take out his anger on the damned mirrors, trying to shatter the horrid, anguished expression staring back at him.

_I'll let you get the best of me  
>'Cause theres nothing else that I do well<br>I'll let you get the best of me  
>'Cause there's nothing else that I do well<em>

Unsurprisingly, it didn't help.

_I'll be the giver and you be the taker  
>I guess that's how this one's gonna go<em>

Slipping through the mirror and pulling the curtain back in place, Erik caught a glimpse of Christine and her Vicomte on their way to the surface... The surface with her, he thought, would be paradise... An eternity without her, however... while he was as shattered inwardly as one of the mirrors, his grief and heartache were as whole and eternal as his love.


End file.
